View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE

provided by Furman University

Furman Magazine Volume 45 Article 4 Issue 3 Fall 2002

9-1-2002 Furman's Misbehaving Behaviorist Charles L. Brewer Furman University

Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/furman-magazine

Recommended Citation Brewer, Charles L. (2002) "Furman's Misbehaving Behaviorist," Furman Magazine: Vol. 45 : Iss. 3 , Article 4. Available at: https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/furman-magazine/vol45/iss3/4

This Article is made available online by Journals, part of the Furman University Scholar Exchange (FUSE). It has been accepted for inclusion in Furman Magazine by an authorized FUSE administrator. For terms of use, please refer to the FUSE Institutional Repository Guidelines. For more information, please contact [email protected]. BY CHARLES L. BREWER

F t'J'S

SBEHAVING BEHAVIORIST

JOHN BROADUS WATSON WAS NOTORIOUS NOT ONLY FOR HIS INFLUENTIAL VIEWS ABOUT , BUT FOR HIS TEMPESTUOUS PERSONAL LIFE AS WELL.

ohn Broadus Watson, known as the "father of behaviorism, " is one of the most important J figures in the . He believed that most human behavior is environ­ mentally determined and rejected the speculative and mentalistic psychology of his day, insisting instead that psychology is the rigorous, scientific study of overt and measurable behavior. He promoted his theory religiously and inflamed many with his forceful and formidable advocacy of his position. Although many of Watson's primary positions have been questioned or discounted since he first proposed them almost 100 years ago, few people have had such influence on the nation's intellectual and scientifichistory. His emphasis on direct, objective methods of observation has had a profound impact on research and study procedures throughout the social sciences. Indeed, in 1956, Gustav Bergmann wrote that second only to Sigmund Freud, Watson was the most influential shaper of psychological thought in the first half of the 20th century. "His place in the history of our civilization is ...secure. Such men are exceedingly rare, " said Bergmann. In 1957, the American Psychological Association cited Watson as follows: "To Dr. John B. Watson, whose work has been one of the vital determinants of the form and substance of modem psychology. He initiated a revolution in psychological thought, and his writing has been the point of departure for continuing lines of fruitful research. "

ohn Broadus Watson was born in Travelers Rest, S.C., on January 9, 1878, the son J of Pickens Butler Watson and Emma Keziah (Roe) Watson. He was named for John Albert Broadus, a Baptist minister in Greenville who rose to national prominence as a theologian and educator. As a youngster, Watson was called Broadus. In a short autobiographical sketch published in 1936, Watson wrote that his earliest academic memories were of the rural schools in the picturesque hamlets of Reedy River, White Horse and Travelers Rest. He was handling tools, half-soling shoes and milking cows when he was 9 years old and was a pretty good carpenter by the time he was 12. Indeed, years later he built a 10-room house from blueprints, then added a garage and a bam.

2

Watson was the fourth of six children toward the field of psychology. A stem to. The title was 'Lift Me Up, Lift Me in a dirt-poor family, but his mother had taskmaster, Moore told the class that any Up.' There wasn't much religion in it­ high hopes for her offspring. When student who turned in a paper "backward" it was rather the whole theory of evolution Broadus was 12, she moved the family would flunk the course. During his senior in blank verse." Moore was later fired to Greenville because the city schools were year, for some strange reason, Watson fromFurman for his liberal religious views. thought to be better than the small, rural handed in his final paper backward. Moore schools. "I have few pleasant memories flunked him, and Watson had to stay at atson received his master's degree of those years, " he wrote in 1936. "I was Furman for another year, at the end of W in 1899, graduating 14th in a class lazy, somewhat insubordinate, and so far which he received a master's degree rather of 20. Because of limited fmances, he took as I know, I never made above a passing than a bachelor's degree. a job teaching in the summer session at grade." Watson's years at Furman turned him a rural school in nearby Pickens County, Something must have stuck, however. against college. His main complaint was then became principal of the now defunct After graduating from Greenville High that college coddles students and ignores Batesburg Institute. He received $25 per at the age of 16, Watson entered Furman their vocational slants, leading to "softness month for teaching, plus free lodging, in 1894 and stayed for five years, working and laziness and a prolongation of infancy." meals and laundry provided by parents two of those years as an assistant in the As he said in his 1936 autobiography, "... of various students on a weekly basis, chemistry department to help defray his until college becomes a place where daily as he moved from one home to another expenses. Although he joined the Kappa living can be taught, we must look toler­ in the community. Such a migratory status Alpha fraternity,Watson was not very antly upon college as a place for boys and for teachers was common in those days. sociable and had few friends at Furman. girls to be penned up in until they reach After working for a year at Batesburg One notable exception was Professor majority- then let the world sift them Institute, and a few weeks after his mother George Buist of the chemistry department. out." died, Watson began to think seriously about Watson's Furman transcript lists six Yet in 1950, when a group of psy­ graduate school. At the time he was more courses in mathematics; four each in Greek chology students at Furman dedicated interested in philosophy than psychology. and philosophy; three each in Bible, the first issue of their Journal to Watson Learning that Princeton required a reading English, German and physics; two each for his contributions as a "scholar, educator, knowledge of Greek and Latin, he decided in French, geology and psychology; and and leader in practical application of to go to the , arriving one each in chemistry, economics, Latin, psychology, " the 72-year-old Watson wrote with $50 in his pocket and no other mechanics and sociology. His academic them a letter in which he said, "I have financial resources. marks were satisfactory but not distin­ a very warm spot in my heart for Furman. Ambitious but broke, Watson worked guished, with some of his lowest grades Probably any time during my five years as a janitor, waiter and caretaker for in psychology. there they would have sold me for a plugged Professor H.H. Donaldson's laboratory Still, he enjoyed his philosophy and nickel (and rightly). But Prof. G. B. Moore rats, while focusing his studies on philo­ psychology courses and credited Professor really gave me inspiration. He delivered sophy, neurology, physiology and experi­ Gordon B. Moore, a philosopher and cleric a sermon at the Greenville Baptist Church mental psychology. He studied with John who taught psychology, with directing him -probably the only sermon I ever listened Dewey, the influential philosopher and educator, but claimed he never understood secretly wed on December 26, 1903, but bordello. Baldwin gave a fictitious name anything that Dewey said. were soon separated when Ickes sent Mary and later succeeded in having his case Watson received his Ph.D. in 1903 to live with an aunt in the East. quietly dropped. When the mayor of (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa), While Mary was gone, Watson broke Baltimore nominated Baldwin for a position his research being directed jointly by off an affair with a lover who tried to win on the school board in the spring of 1909, Donaldson and James Rowland Angell. him back. Afterthat, according to Buckley, however, the tawdry details of his nocturnal Then 25, Watson was said to be the "Watson sent for Mary, and they were visit came to light. To avoid an all-out youngest person ever to earn a Ph.D. publicly marriedin the fall of 1904. Watson scandal, Baldwin was forced to resign from at Chicago, which was considered an confessed everything to his bride, even Hopkins. intellectual hotbed filled with academic though he realized that the situation did His abrupt departure shifted responsi­ hotheads. He served first as Angell's not provide 'a very good foundation for bility for psychology at Hopkins and for assistant and later as a faculty member marriage'." Indeed, the marriage was never editing the to in the Department of Psychology. a happy one. Watson. Buckley points out that "at age In December 1903, Watson married Watson's work at Chicago went well thirty-one Watson became the director of 19-year-old Mary Amelia Ickes, a student but did not receive the support he thought psychology at a major research institution in one of his classes. According to Kerry it deserved. With two small children, the and editor of a journal of considerable W. Buckley's Mechanical Man, the family Watsons seemed always to be living from influence within the profession. Now he legend was that Mary "had developed a hand to mouth. Perhaps because of his would have access to funding for his own crush on her professor and during one long precarious financial situation, Watson used research and a forum for the dissemination exam wrote a love poem in her copybook his growing professional reputation to of his ideas." instead of answers to the test questions. attract offers from other universities. In his 1950 letter to Furman students, When Watson insisted on taking the paper Watson described himself as "aghast " when at the end of the quiz, Mary blushed, handed n the fall of 1908, at the age of 30, Watson he learned of his new responsibilities. He him the paper, and ran from the room. The I accepted a position as professor and said, "The Psychological Review was literary effort must have had its desired director of the Psychological Laboratory the official organ of the American Psycho­ effect. But the courtship that ensued was at The Johns Hopkins University in logical Association. I was about as well never blissful." Baltimore, Md., almost doubling his salary prepared to undertake this work as I was Mary's brother was Harold Ickes, to $3,500. At Hopkins, he renewed his to swim the English Channel. .. . But the a senator from Illinois who acquaintance with , magazine prospered. Prospered to such later became Secretary of the Interior under another native of South Carolina. an extent that it was thought best to add Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Ickes vehe­ Baldwin had helped to rejuvenate the Journal of Experimental Psychology. mently opposed Mary's marriage to the psychology program at Hopkins after "Professor H. C. Warren of Princeton Watson, whom he considered a contemp­ coming from Princeton in 1903. In the University became interested in these tible egomaniac. His opposition was so summer of 1908, however, he was involved publications. He bought the Review, the violent that Watson later feared for Mary's in a "delicate situation " when he was caught Journal, and Psychological Monographs. physical safety. Watson and Mary were during a police raid on a Baltimore I believe that Dr. Baldwin sold out his holdings for $5,500. It was a godsend to most cordial feeling toward you and your one of the most famous subjects in all of us at Hopkins to have the financial end of work from every direction." The irony of psychology. They conditioned the toddler the journals taken care of. Prof. Warren Goodnow's kind words would soon seem to fear furry objects by placing a white rat took over the editorship of the Review and ominously prophetic. near him, then sounding a loud gong when I of the Journal. " the child reached toward the animal. Even­ Watson's work at Hopkins flourished. atson's professional prestige was tually, Albert would recoil and react nega­ In addition to editing the Psychological W skyrocketing, but his personal life tively whenever any object resembling the Review, he was founding editor of the was another matter. His marriage to Mary rat was introduced to him. Journalof Experimental Psychology in Ickes was tempestuous; he had an affair While the research drew widespread 1915. The same year, at the young age a few years after they were married with attention, Watson's romantic involvement of 37, he served as president of the Ameri­ a woman named Vida Sutton, the object of with Rosalie led to his academic demise. can Psychological Association. In addition, an earlier infatuation. Harold Ickes insisted During a social visit at the Rayners' house, his research and writing, especially an that Mary sue Watson for divorce; Watson's Mary Watson purloined 15 of her husband's article titled "Psychology as the Behaviorist mentor, James Rowland Angell, intervened love letters to Rosalie. In connection with Views It," published in the Psychological to preserve the marriage. But Mary became the divorce proceedings, these letters were Review in 1913, established his reputation increasingly embittered. published on the front pages of most major as a powerful but controversial pioneer for A few years earlier, Watson had begun newspapers throughout the country-with behaviorism -the scientific study of research on the development of emotions predictable embellishments that resembled observable behavior. in young children, which proved to be some a 1920s National Enquirer. After serving in the Signal Corps in of his most widely cited work. He pro­ The letters are revealing. In 1920, World War I, Watson returned to Hopkins, moted the theory that displaying affection Watson wrote to Rosalie that "every cell where his reputation soared even higher toward a child was inappropriate because I have is yours, individually and collec­ with the publication of Psychology From it fostered dependence rather than indepen­ tively. My total reactions are positive and the Standpoint of a Behaviorist in 1919. dence. He advocated instead a strictly towards you. So likewise each and every Furman awarded him an honorary degree, controlled and detached approach to child heart reaction. I can't be any more yours the British Psychological Society invited rearing. than I am even if a surgical operation made him to lecture, and he entertained offers One of his graduate assistants was us one." With less clinical precision, but from major universities. Rosalie Rayner, a member of an influential perhaps more warmth, Watson asked In an attempt to keep him at Hopkins, Baltimore family and a recent graduate of Rosalie: "Could you kiss me for two hours President Frank J. Goodnow offered to Vassar College, where she had admired right now without ever growing weary? raise Watson's salary from $4,000 to Watson's work. Together they had pub­ I want you all 24 of the hours and then I'd $6,000, saying in March 1920, "It would lished an article titled "Conditioned quarrel with the universe because the days be extremely unfortunate for the University Emotional Reactions" in the Journal of are not long enough. Let's go to the North if you were to accept a call anywhere else. Experimental Psychology (1920, Volume Pole where the ...nights are 6 mo. long." I sincerely hope that you will see your way 3). Their research involved conditioning Buckley says, "Watson claimed that to stay with us, and can assure you of the fear in a young child- Little Albert, the dissatisfaction with his marriage was shared by his wife. By Christmas of 19 19, the board of trustees was the fact that advertising impressed his superiors, and her interest in him had become 'purely Rosalie Rayner's grandfather had [recently] he was made a vice president in 1924. He maternal.' According to Watson, his wife given ten thousand dollars to Johns left J. Walter Thompson in 1935 and served complained that 'married life .. . was a Hopkins. " After all the high-level as an advertising executive at the William bore and that she hated for the evening discussions and correspondence about Esty Company until his retirement in 1945 to come.' She too had become involved his "delicate situation, " Watson said simply: at the age of 67. in an affair, and when confronted with "I was asked to resign." His resignation His entrepreneurial bent helped him Watson's infidelity, declared that 'Rosalie essentially ended his career as an academic flourish in the business world, where he could have [him] as far as she was . eventually earned a salary of $70,000. He concerned.' gave occasional lectures at the New School "A separation agreement was reached atson was devastated by his treat­ for Social Research and wrote for popular between the two parties in late July 1920, W ment at Hopkins and hurt that his magazines, including Harper's, The Nation, with Mary Watson obtaining a substantial colleagues did not come to his defense. The New Republic, The Saturday Review property and alimony settlement from her He was on the verge of a breakdown, and ofLiterature, and McCall's. But he never husband that left him with but a third of the academic world was closed to him. forgave the academic community, which his former income. The matter could have He had a new wife and considerable he thought had betrayed him. passed quietly without further incident, but financial obligations from his divorce The Watsons lived on Whippoorwill when the case went to court, the press settlement, but no job and no promising Farm, a beautiful estate in Westport, Conn. picked up the story and focused national prospects. Watson enjoyed speeding around Long attention on the trial." Watson eventually went to New York, Island Sound in his 200-horsepower boat. The divorce was granted on December and with the help of a former colleague He was fond of pound cake, farming, 30, 1920. The very next day, Watson and he obtained a position with the J. Walter horseback riding and bourbon. He read Rayner were married. He was 42 and she Thompson advertising agency, where he detective stories and western novels, and was 21. analyzed consumer behavior-and made he often played bridge with friends. He A few of Watson's colleagues at Hop­ four times his salary at Hopkins. To under­ was a strong andhandsome man-rugged, kins had known of his separation from stand what motivates people to buy certain dashing and polished in social situations. Mary, but the university had hoped to avoid products, he studied the marketing of rubber Some have speculated that Watson's a scandal similar to the one that forced boots along the Mississippi River, sold physical attractiveness and engaging Baldwin's resignation 11 years before. products door-to-door, and worked as a personality made him almost irresistible Like Baldwin, Watson had violated the clerk at Macy's Department Store. to women. As one colleague said, "Watson unwritten code of the day that faculty mem­ He thoroughly enjoyed applying was not involved in any love triangle. It bers should not be romantically involved scientific principles to consumer behavior was a polyhedron of indeterminable with their students. and once said that "it can be just as thrilling dimensionality." Buckley points to yet another factor: to watch the growth of a sales curve of a Watson and Rosalie had two sons, "A detail of information that was probably new product as to watch the learning curve William Rayner Watson (called Billy), born not overlooked by the administration and of animals." His scientific approach to in 1921, and James Broadus Watson (called Jim), born in 1924. Rosalie contracted an he was scared to death of driving a car, which usually result from a childhood ... undiagnosed infection and died in 1935 at and, in fact, never learned to do so. In that Jacks a ... sense of human connection." the age of 35, and Watson never completely his presence, one felt an aura of genuine In his declining years, Watson regained recovered from her death. In the early warmth, but as an individual he was hope­ a modicum of his lost academic respect­ 1950s he sold the Westport estate and lessly unable to communicate or demon­ ability, as the 1957 citation from the moved to a small farm in Woodbury, Conn., strate any affection- I am not sure if that American Psychological Association indi­ where he spent his last years. was the cause or the effect of his theories cates. Such recognition came grudgingly, of behaviorism." however, because many resented his "fall s part of a symposium at the 1981 Jim Watson continued: from grace " and his stunning success in A meeting of the American Psycho­ "Both dad and mother, although she the business world. Others found the logical Association in Los Angeles, Jim died when I was still a child, rigorously notions of behaviorism so repulsive that Watson made the following poignant pursued the foundation teachings of they rejected its founder, and still others comments about his father and what it behaviorism. Frankly, I think that a better thought that his popular writing smacked was like being reared by the author of end product would have resulted if the of hucksterism. Psychological Care of Infant and Child: process of growing up had been annealed John Broadus Watson died in New " ...it would be hard to come to any with some measure of affection -it York City on September 25, 1958, at the other conclusion than [that] in his unbridled certainly would have made growing up less age of 80. He would be quietly amused enthusiasm for behaviorism, my father was like a business proposition where one is that we are still talking about him, but such arrogant or, at best, not inhibited by conven­ judged by bottom-line performance. men are rare indeed! tional modesty- perhaps he had to be "It is my hope that ... others who have a rebel to rock the world's psychological followed him have tempered the emotion­ The author is the Wi lliam R. Ke nan, Jr., boat. But in real life, at least as I knew ally Spartan upbringing that he espoused. Professor of Psychology at Furman and him, he was a much different person - His behavioristic theories on child develop­ a re cognized authority on John B. Wa tson. one, incidentally, of considerable contra­ ment unquestionably have value in terms diction. of life's preparation through the setting of Portions of this article are adapted fro m "Despite his reputation as more of standards and developing an understanding Brewer's article on Wa tson in Portraits an evangelist for behaviorism than a of the parameters of acceptable and respon­ of Pioneers in American Psychology, pages scientist, he was shy and conservative ... sible behavior, but they could have been 170-186. Copyright ©1991 by La wre nce and he was a considerate human being. much improved if one were permitted to ErlbaumAssociates, Inc., and the American He had a vocabulary second only to mix in a big helping of parental affection. Psychological Association. Adapted with Webster, but he used more four-letter words I believe to do so would provide a better permission. than a mule skinner. He had all of the he­ psychological foundation for all of us who, man attributes of Ernest Hemingway, but at one time or another in life, are ultimately limited his hunting prowess to clay pigeons put to the test of weathering the emotional on the skeet range. He drove a high­ storms that often topple people because of powered boat with great abandon, but the frail egos and low levels of self-esteem,